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We have published thousands of coffee reviews and espresso reviews since 1997. The reviews below appear in reverse chronological order by review date. Older reviews may no longer accurately reflect current versions of the same coffee. To search for a specific roaster, origin or coffee use the Advanced Search Function.
A fine, versatile decaffeinated espresso particularly remarkable for its persistent floral top notes. In the aroma flowers, chocolate and apricot-toned fruit. In the small cup full body with perhaps a slightly rough mouthfeel, pungent, rich and balanced, with continuing semi-sweet chocolate and floral notes that carry into the finish. Blooms nicely in milk with minty chocolate sweetness while still maintaining the attractive floral and fruit complication.
A fine fruity-fermented style espresso in decaffeinated format. The sweet fermented fruit notes (I would guess from a dried-in-the-fruit East African green coffee component) read as blueberry with chocolate and ripe banana tones in both aroma and small cup. Excellent body, rich chocolate in the finish. A slight salty sensation that often accompanies fruity ferment hardly matters in the small cup, but seems to dampen sweetness in milk, where this exciting espresso doesn?t quite live up to its full chocolate-blueberry promise.
Sweet-impressioned, deep aroma with a wonderfully candied, chocolaty tone to the fruit. In the small cup medium in body but smooth in mouthfeel with a deep cedar and continued candied fruit character. Surprisingly crisp, citrusy finish. Gentle and balanced in milk, blooming with milk chocolate and flowers, quiet but complete.
Crisp, elegant espresso with dry berry and floral notes. Shows a hint of sweet, tomato-toned acidity in the aroma along with caramel and flowers. In the small cup surprisingly full-bodied with cedar, dry berry and a continuing shimmer of flowers. Clean, rich finish. Masters milk with a delicate, dry-chocolate-toned authority. The floral notes survive with startling clarity in milk, persisting far into the finish.
A quiet, complete espresso, short on drama but almost flawless in detail. Delicately complex aroma, with crisp chocolate and cedar and butter notes that together read much like butterscotch. In the small cup medium-bodied but very smooth in mouthfeel with almost no astringency and a sweet, chocolaty fruit and gentle cedar. Delicate but very sweet in milk with continued crisp chocolate and cedar notes and a cleanly rich finish.
A versatile espresso with a pungent authority that should serve particularly well in big milk drinks. Slightly spicy, apricot- or mango-toned fruit in the deeply sweet-impressioned aroma. In the small cup displays full, syrupy body and a rather opulently sweet, chocolate-toned richness with a balancing cedar pungency. Slight astringency in the long finish. In milk rounds and blossoms nicely but dominates with semi-sweet chocolate authority and a slight but discernible astringent edge in the finish.
Deep but crisp aroma with impressive complexity: honey, caramel, semi-sweet chocolate, flowers, a hint of cedar. Medium to full body in the small cup with continued caramel and chocolate notes and pronounced, rather sharp cedar. In milk the chocolate rounds and blossoms sweetly, complicated by a continued crisp cedar and the reappearance of a floral shimmer at the top of the profile.
Balanced, versatile blend. Sweet-toned aroma with fruit and chocolate complications. In the small cup smooth and close to syrupy in mouthfeel, sweet and gently pungent with a pronounced cedar note and hints of prune and semi-sweet chocolate. Rich presence in milk - perhaps more cedar and mint than chocolate but roundly sweet nonetheless. Very slightly rough finish in both small cup and milk.
Sweet-toned, very deep aroma with complication that reads as banana, orange, semi-sweet chocolate. In the small cup full bodied and cedar- and caramel-toned with continued suggestions of banana-like fruit and semi-sweet chocolate. The cedar and chocolate tones round and sweeten in milk without losing their crisp authority.
Lush in flavor but slightly lean in body and presence. Elegant blueberry- and chocolate-toned nose with a hint of cedar. In the small cup medium-bodied with a touch of sweet acidity and continued berry, cedar and dark chocolate notes. A bit thin-presenced in milk, though the sneakily persistent dark-chocolate, cherry-brandy opulence stays around nicely.
A tough, robust espresso. Sweetly and roundly smoky aroma with hints of semi-sweet chocolate. In the small cup full body with slightly rough mouthfeel, simple and richly pungent with continued hints of dark chocolate and a surprisingly clean, sweet finish. At its best in milk, where the semi-sweet chocolate rounds and dominates with minty richness.
Rather delicate, toasty aroma with hints of low-acid fruit - banana, chocolate. In the small cup medium to full body, with a crisply smoky, toasty character complicated by caramel and continued banana notes and a hint of flowers. The finish stays just on the rich side of rough. Rounds and blossoms in milk but remains roasty - think chocolate on toast - with a continued lean toward a banana-like fruit.
Deeply rich aroma with fruity chocolate and cedar complication. In the small cup the cedar notes dominate, backgrounding the chocolate and fruit. Full body but slightly rough mouthfeel; rich and slightly sharp in the short finish, but in the long smoothes out nicely with a final memory of chocolate. The cedar and chocolate carry into milk, the cedar dominating but the chocolate-fruit side blooming nicely.
Quietly intense aroma, softly and sweetly high-toned, dry berry notes. In the cup medium-bodied with a silky mouthfeel, with the mild acidy edge and tart dry berry notes enveloped in sweetness, netting a floral, Riesling-like buoyancy.
Exhilaratingly intense but roundly sweet-toned aroma: black cherry, flowers, milk chocolate, with an underlying cedar-toned crispness. Sweet flowers and cherry dominate in the cup with an almost symphonic richness of tone. Medium bodied but silky mouthfeel. The floral notes linger into the farthest reaches of the finish.
Quietly intense aroma, cedar and distinct butterscotch notes. Plushly heavy body in the sweet, deep-toned cup, with almost port-like red wine tones and rich hints of semi-sweet chocolate and roses anchored on a flinty, almost mineral-like base.
Sweet-toned, quietly complex aroma: cherryish, chocolate-toned fruit with a hint of herby cedar. In the cup softly acidy and richly and exquisitely balanced, with the fruit taking on a distinct black cherry character. A coffee whose excellence ultimately lies in its suave authority and completeness.
An aromatically rather simple coffee with a tremendous relaxed and almost voluptuous structure. In the aroma low-toned and round with hints of flowers and cherry-toned fruit. Softly acidy and sweetly and deeply rich in the cup. Sweet, almost sugary finish.
A classic cup: pure, simple, intense, refined. Sweet-toned but crisp aroma: tomato, cedar, cardamom, chocolate. Richly and sweetly acidy in the cup with the classic complex of flowers and fresh coffee fruit with rounding hints of chocolate.
Sweet-toned and alive with a dense, shifting complexity. Cedar, orange, distinct butterscotch, tomato, perhaps chocolate in the aroma. In the cup low-toned acidity and lightly syrupy in mouthfeel, with an almost sugary sweetness and tight-knit notes of butterscotch, caramel, honey, ripe but slightly tart orange. Rich and sweet in the short finish, though a slight hint of astringency surfaces in the long.